The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst
To be released: June 1st, 2014
“Award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst has been praised for her captivating novels that merge the darkly imagined with very real themes of self-discovery and destiny. In The Lost, we’ll discover just what it means to lose one’s way….
It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassible dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she’s going to have to figure out just what she’s missing—and what she’s running from—before she can leave. So now Lauren’s on a new search for a purpose and a destiny. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll be found….
Against the backdrop of this desolate and mystical town, Sarah Beth Durst writes an arresting, fantastical novel of one woman’s impossible journey…and her quest to find her fate.”
“Welcome to Lost” is what the sign says at the start of Lauren’s adventure and from the off you sense that she is in some sort of purgatory. The dust storm keeps everyone hostage in the town of Lost and no matter what she does, she ends up back at the welcome sign.
Lauren’s metaphysical Lost is as bizarre as Wonderland and it’s inhabitants are equally as mad.
The Lost has a very early Stephen King feel to it; creepy with a touch of menace. There is also the repeated imagery of a solitary balloon just wafting around; daring us to figure out what it symbolizes.
Lauren runs into the Finder, Peter- as she tries to get away from the townspeople who turned on her. From there she scavenges and barters to stay alive long enough to figure out what she has lost. It begs the question- “What have you lost?”
This was a great thought provoking read and I can not wait for the next book in the series.
Project Nemesis 